CAT 2025 Slot 3 VARC Question & Solution
Question
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4) given below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer.
1. The effigy of a candidate establishes a personal link between him and the voters; the candidate does not only offer a programme for judgement, he suggests a physical climate, a set of daily choices expressed in a morphology, a way of dressing, a posture.
2. Some candidates for Parliament adorn their electoral prospectus with a portrait; this presupposes that photography has a power to convert which must be analysed.
3. Inasmuch as photography is an ellipse of language and a condensation of an ‘ineffable’ social whole, it constitutes an anti-intellectual weapon and tends to spirit away ‘politics’ (that is to say a body of problems and solutions) to the advantage of a 'manner of being', a socio-moral status.
4. Photography tends to restore the paternalistic nature of elections, whose elitist essence has been disrupted by proportional representation and the rule of parties (the Right seems to use it more than the Left).
Solution
Main Idea of the Paragraph
The paragraph examines how photography transforms electoral politics. It explains how the use of photographic images:
- Changes the way voters relate to political candidates
- Shifts attention from political ideas and judgment to personal appearance and presence
- Produces broader political consequences for how elections function
Overall, the paragraph moves from describing a practice to analyzing its effects and finally evaluating its implications.
Explanation of the Correct Order
Why the Sequence Is 2 → 1 → 4 → 3
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Sentence 2 works best as the opening.
- It introduces the concrete practice of candidates placing their portraits on electoral material
- It states that this practice “presupposes that photography has a power to convert,” creating a need for explanation
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Sentence 1 logically follows by explaining how this power operates.
- It shows how the candidate’s image (effigy) creates a personal connection
- It explains the shift from political evaluation to appearance, posture, and everyday habits
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Sentence 4 comes next by presenting the political consequence of this shift.
- When elections centre on personal image, photography tends to restore a paternalistic form of politics
- This runs counter to party-based or proportional political systems
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Sentence 3 works best as the conclusion.
- It generalizes and evaluates the argument
- It claims photography replaces politics as a set of problems with a “manner of being”
- It labels photography an anti-intellectual weapon, making it suitable as a final judgment
The progression is clear: observation → explanation → political effect → evaluative conclusion.